The Kraken Is Such A Big Meanie

I get occasional feedback on what I write and I can read statistics, so I understand that there are some readers who felt I went to far in my characterization of the Republican Party and their voters. This is not some dry, academic journal it is my personal blog and I am under no real obligation to play the "both sides" card or pull punches out of some outdated sense of professional detachment. These are transparent excuses used by journalists in big media corporations trying not to offend their right-wing editors and owners. My anger at the mean-spirited ignorance of conservative voters is sincere, second only to Republican office holders because the latter can actually change laws and make decisions that hurt me and the people I care about. So yes, I am sick of holding back for politeness sake. But man, for all the harm they do to others conservatives are incredibly thin-skinned. You would think people willing to fuck over their neighbors for gain might not get their feelings hurt so easily or cry foul and act all butt-hurt about it but you would be wrong.

Sarah Wood, AKA the Opinionated Democrat, nailed the conservative strategy that has done so much damage to this country they claim to love but screw at every chance:

Republicans cut funding for critical programs then sit back, and when these underfunded programs start to falter or suffer or seem inefficient they blame the president and Democrats.... "See! Look! These programs don't work!" and they call them a waste of money, or job killers, or hazardous, blah blah blah. Then they shovel money to Wall Street, monopoly corporations, and wars in the blink of an eye and complain about the debt and our failing domestic policies they've stripped all the funding from.

For the love of all that is good and decent.... Stop. Voting. Republican.

 Do people this cynical and downright evil, these liars, deserve courtesy and nuanced, reasonable debate? No.

How about this screwhead that I found while browsing comments' sections:
Lawrence Wheaton · Top Commenter · Buena Park High

BS. What democrats consider a right to vote is illegal. No ID to prove you are a citizen. And I have heard your stupid argument about in person voter fraud. It's a BS issue as registering to vote does not require an ID so you can lie and then vote. There won't be a conflict at the ballot box yet a non citizen will get to vote. And yes, many people, especially college students register and vote twice in elections in more than one state. Hopefully there will be a better cross check between states and that will finally stop. You can go ahead and start with your liberal platitudes now.

This was Lawrence's polite and reasonable response to the Constitutional Amendment on the ballot in Illinois to actually give everyone the right to vote. No Larry, college students do not vote more than once, you're thinking of Republican office-holders and conservative hypocrites who whine about "illegals" voting. Can you take this lout seriously? I mean he even knows he is wrong and pulling his "argument" directly from his third point of contact by denigrating the empirical evidence as simply "liberal platitudes."

Okay, maybe he is just a dick troll online and would be civil if face to face. But what about all these open-carry gun suckling children? Brandishing weapons in public to intimidate everyone else because it is their "right" to trample everyone else's. Especially those brave "men" threatening the Moms' group. This is fascism, a right-wing populist movement to destroy democracy and install dictators who promise oppression and loss of freedom, maybe it is couched in attacks on scapegoats at first but it never stays there. I guess... we should be happy that the scumbags these fascists elect are only interested in rigging the economy in favor of their friends and undermining the existing government instead of actually implementing a totalitarian version.

"Oh," you say, "but Mr. Kraken, that's just Texas, they are all assholes down there." Well, say I, that would be bad enough but then this "militia" group in Wisconsin got caught (because the feed to their group was public, dumbasses) discussing, seriously, showing up at polling places to challenge black voters while armed. Has this kind of crap ever been so brazenly visible in America?

These are just a few reasons why I not hold back, these people must be stopped. They will never go away but the good people of this country must defeat them now, and every election in the foreseeable future. Until conservatism is again a realistic alternative that can coexist with democracy and justice, i.e. when it stops being authoritarian, it cannot be allowed to hold power.

Your Gloomy Midterm Election Reminder

It has been an interesting two years hasn't it? Maybe more for my generation than any other, we get an up close and personal lesson in why it is not enough to pull the lever for a Democratic President and then go back to our own busy lives. The Children of Darkness simply do not quit, ever. They are more tenacious than the hardest-core social justice activist because "God" tells them to fuck the poor, the immigrants, women, working people, minorities, the environment, and civil rights. So this is my feeble attempt to persuade you to get out and vote this year.

I have had quite enough of the more punk then thou, emo-prog, hipster bullshit attitude of  "Democrats are just as bad" or any other sentimental nonsense that voting doesn't matter thank you. That kind of duck-face whining is nothing more than an excuse for being lazy. As any historian will tell you, America is an experiment. The first modern attempt to allow "the people" to govern themselves, so shut up and pitch in. Or you will probably find yourself in debtor's prison one day soon stitching soccer balls together with your teeth for one or another wall street bankster.

Look, to put it quite simply, republicans will make your life harder. Democrats may make bad calls, support bad policies from time to time, get persuaded of the wrong initiative, or succumb to corruption but that is not part of their platform. On the other hand, when republicans do those things it is by design. The GOP does not continue to clamor for more wars, lie reflexively about even the most trivial things, deregulate business, take kickbacks, privatize anything they get their hands on, or display stunning incompetence and fundamentalist ignorance in office because they are bad conservatives, but because they are good conservatives. This is what they want to do, and what they will keep doing every time we stay home. See The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation by Thomas Frank for more info.

Do you have kids in school, even college? Have you ever had a major illness or need health care? Do you have student loans? Is there even the slightest chance you might find yourself unemployed? Not voting will allow republicans to sneak in and do what they do best: harm you and the people you care about. Am I laying it on thick here? Too bad. It is the truth. Republicans are a clear and present danger to the republic and your individual well-being. Let's ask some more rhetorical questions. Do you think life would be improved by giving more control over your life to your boss? Republicans do. Would life be better if fundamentalist churches had more power over society? Republicans will vote yes every time, in fact they trip all over themselves to make outrageous proposals for who can bring us closest to the Dark Ages. Is there never a bad time to outsource jobs? Cut taxes for people who make fortunes rigging the economy? Pollute the land, air, and water where you live? Take away your right to vote, plan your family, be safe from gun maniacs? "More, more, more!" says the GOP. Heck, a former dictator of what we laughingly call the People's House (of Represent-atives) during Bush Hell once said with a straight face that there is nothing more important during a time of war than to cut taxes.

Republican voters cannot be reasoned with, I've tried. You've probably tried too, that angry uncle or grandfather that simply won't shut up about "all the taxes they pay" to support "those lazy people on welfare," nothing gets through does it? Or the, "you're too young to understand what's good for you, so quit trying to change the world" from the same crowd. You can be sure he will vote, and vote against you or your children having a future. Of course, "it will be for your own good." So if this is the case, there is nothing to do but show up to vote and bring as many friends as you can, at least the ones with a conscience. Rule of thumb, if your friend reads Ayn Rand, let him be. Unless you want to sit through another two years of frivolous investigations into the attacks on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Or endure another thirty or forty votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act that is probably already helping your health, take the relatively small investment of time to register and show up to vote. This well-informed, conscientious person certainly will be. Don't let her decide which rights and how much money you will have to give up this time around.

Ignorant and proudly displaying your gullibility is no way to go through life lady.

Dicing Up The Problems

I woke up this morning, got a cup of coffee, and sat down to write about a Niebuhrian approach to the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Then it dawned on me that I have really lost my edge, having not actively studied or taught Niebuhrian ethics in some time. So while I re-educate myself on the subject and see if the theologian of public life has anything to say about this latest flare of violence in a violent region, perhaps it is a good time to re-examine what this blog is trying to do in its sporadic existence.

Before that however, if you have not seen this clip of John Cleese explaining why stupid people do not understand that they are stupid, you really should.

 

I have been following current events and the public ways people perceive them for a long time now, and even if memory is a poor resource for measuring, the public displays of stupidity seem to be rising exponentially every year. Does this base assumption need to be established? That America is a nation with a huge number of idiots? Drooling morons even? This statement is not to bash anyone for being stupid per se, for every 101 there has to be a 99 if IQ means anything. What I have a problem with is conspicuous displays of ignorance. More on that later. What is important here is to what degree is intelligence inherent, and to what degree it is a product of our environment?

 

There certainly are exceptional people out there, I have known quite a few, but intelligence is not a single axis. Education and experience can do so much for people, but you have to be open-minded enough to learn. I used to proceed from the assumption that curiosity and the desire/drive to learn was a universal human trait. As I have aged and encountered different people however, that notion has just been shattered. If one wanted to point to the single epiphany that shaped my gloominess, it was realizing that most of my friends were utterly uninterested in learning or trying anything new. Nor were they humble enough to accept that they could be wrong and possibly need to re-examine positions or opinions.

 

After seeing twenty something factory workers become frozen in their beliefs right before my eyes I started paying attention to talk shows, letters to the editor, and eavesdropping on passersby finding the same thing. What happens to people? There is a great big world out there and between the library or the internet one can find out a lot of things. Jello Biafra once sang "your lack of curiosity is the key to our success" with No Means No on Sky Is Falling & I Want My Mommy in the ironic way he is best known for as a songwriter. Not only has the dumbing down of Americans made it so much easier for grubby authoritarians and demagogues to sneak into public office or the media, but we have started falling for some really strange things lately.

 

Conspiracy theories may have always been on the fringe of American society, it was long-rumored that George Washington longed to be crowned monarch and do away with all this republican nonsense. But conspiracy theorists have relentlessly pushed their crazy and sometimes dangerous ideas into the mainstream in recent years. While the entire right wing apparatus is guilty of breathlessly pushing lies and misinformation, conspiracy theorists are a different animal (see my recent post on Robin Williams' death). Just a few recent (and stupid) examples: "Facebook is going to start charging a subscription fee!" "Halloween is National 'Kill a Pit Bull' Day!" And my favorite "6th graders taught how to use strap-on dildo!" These are stories posted by actual people on social media recently, and all three are various levels of untrue. The first and last were originally posted on satirical websites and the second was a meme mash up of newspaper clippings and flyers.

 

If you want to anger Facebook users more than anything, start a rumor that they will have to start paying for it. The rebuke was conveniently located just below the original story in "related links." Of course, with a simple understanding of what media (even social media) is in this country you do not need to check whether National Report is just some goofy competitor to the Onion, it is. You would know that FB's users are the product for sale, to advertisers. Perhaps big Z did not intend to build this sprawling online apparatus simply to put eyeballs in front of paid advertisements, but that is what Facebook does, the same way NBC or the Washington Post functions. Any effect of improving communications or allowing relatives to stay connected or long lost friendships to be rekindled is incidental. Killing pit bulls? Seriously? This is a dog-loving nation, can you think of a more offensive idea? But people take it seriously, just as they believe in angels and the knock-out game. Okay, maybe the last one is a more offensive idea. If I was being paid to do it I could not find something more likely to drive the fox news watching grandmas and grandpas of America crazy. It is of course, an exercise in propaganda and mental trickery, but the first three entries of a Google search are from right wing nincompoops passing the story off as valid. The strap-on story was a twist, right down to the photo shopped cell phone camera pictures, but while you can't expect the tea party or ron paul types to understand Photoshop when they are busy dragging us back to the Gilded Age, whoever was really responsible had more of an agenda then simply getting a rise out of the self-righteous teabaggers and info wars conspiracy theorists.

 

My point here, and to conclude this ramble, is that in the age of technological manipulation, viral news, and extreme political polarization we all need to try just a little harder not to fall for this kind of nonsense. The purpose of this blog has been to defuse some of the fear out there. The Children of Darkness could not exist without the irrational fear and self-righteousness of the gullible, don't fall for their traps.



The Kraken Resurfaces

I apologize for my absence gentle readers. Without going into boring details it has been a crazy, hectic month. I have only been able to briefly follow all of the confrontations and protests in Ferguson, MO. And barely keeping up with the outlines of these ISIS clowns and rest of the world's response to their blood-soaked antics. I simply cannot believe there are grownups in this country seriously considering getting involved in yet another Middle Eastern conflict. Scott Walker continues to be the worst plague ever inflicted upon the people of Wisconsin, he is ahead in the current gop gubernatorial contest of who can harm their constituents the most. I wonder if I can still vote absentee?

Anyway the biggest contribution I have made (and it is next-to-nothing at that) lately is a comment thread on an article Bob Cesca wrote on Sept. 11 of the by now usual shtick. Michael Moore Thinks Obama Will Only Be Remembered for Being the First Black President Because what is really important is for the pragmatic left to police the far left, not beating back the authoritarian right and the real harm they do to people for spite and profit.

The Gloomy Historian • 4 days ago

I don't want to be the contrarian here, but what do we remember about presidents from a century ago? Do we popularly remember the Harding administration's establishment of a federal budgeting process or that it was spectacularly corrupt? Bob is a civil war buff, does he champion reconstruction as a far-sighted program of modernizing and enlightening the south? Or a spectacular failure of idealism into corruption and power-grabs? In a way it falls to professional historians to shape whether the Obama administration is remembered as James Buchanan, standing by as the union is ripped apart by reactionary monsters; or Lincoln, trying his best to fix an impossible situation; or something else entirely. There is a reason historians allow twenty years to pass before seriously studying events, passions need to cool and cranks with an agenda need to be rooted out before history can approach the past with anything like objectivity.

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  ChrisAndersen The Gloomy Historian • 4 days ago

  Ask yourselves this: if Lincoln had survived his second term would he be remembered as fondly? The Lincoln we know was the Lincoln who died right after winning a war. The Lincoln we know was not sullied by the inevitable compromises that would have come from Reconstruction.
  Lincoln accomplished great things before he died, but anyone who studies him knows that he was as much a compromiser and "sellout" as any President who ever lived.

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    The Gloomy Historian ChrisAndersen • 4 days ago

    "Sellout" is a very strong word. Yes, Lincoln compromised and changed his mind when situations changed and facts came to light. Lincoln's core value never changed though, he was going to preserve the Union no matter what. The surprising thing is, as the only sitting president to encounter a large-scale armed insurrection, how lenient he was toward the traitors. You make very relevant points. I was mostly speaking about popular history, how we regular folks know history. Reconstruction, in particular, was hijacked for over half a century by southern apologists who wrote the history many of us learned about Carpetbaggers and Scalawags and Redeemers. The right already has an infrastructure in place to destroy any Democratic President's legacy,

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      ChrisAndersen The Gloomy Historian • 4 days ago

      I used "sellout" in the sense that many people use when really what they mean is "he didn't do what I wanted him to do". I used it loosely to describe Lincoln because it is so often used loosely to describe Obama.

I am not even sure what he is arguing with me over. But boy, do people like to argue with historians.

Then I left this gem from my own intellectual history research on one of Chez' regular media criticism columns. No replies though but Chez' treatment of WFB shows how much the pragmatic left longs for a conservative opposition that will play fair.

One aspect of this phenomenon, one of many for sure, is that the current mouth-breathing populist front men for corporate power use the intellectual foundation WFB built and propagated to "shorthand" any argument. No one on fox, for example, needs to explain why liberals are bad, or why conservatives are good. Buckley and National Review established all of these preconceived notions 50 years ago or more and they just continue on zombie-like, without ever being challenged. And do not give Buckley too much credit for intellectualism, his books and articles are filled with cheap innuendo, ad hominem attacks, and every other logical fallacy around. In "Up from Liberalism" for example, he goes on a diatribe against Eleanor Roosevelt that must be the template for every subsequent hit job ever undertaken.

Robin Williams didn't commit suicide. That's what the illuminati wants you to think.

I guess I should provide some context to this conversation. After Mork's death made headlines I saw Chez from The Daily Banter post about how no one believes in discernible reality anymore. Then I saw this whacktastic exchange between a bunch of known conspiracy theorists and decided to follow it for a little while. I just wanted to record it and show Chez that yes, there really is evidence for his idea even away from the coasts. The Illuminati reference as title really was what Brian posted as his status.

Matthew Mattyg Gutoski I'm not the only one who believes in the possibly of this then..

Brian Fieldhouse Yup

Tim Dolfin Here, let's distract you from what's really going on.

Chad Larson Shut the fuck up.

James Lex Nice conspiracy theory s I love it lol

Kevin Richter Yes we do!

Roger Ugarte conspiracy theory is a slide used by those who do not want you to realize some truths. A slide is a psychological pre conditioning towards a certain event. Television has preconditioned people in this society to believe that any theory presented that go against the "norm" or the accept offical story, are conspiracy theroists and wear tin foil hats and all that other nonsense. This was done on purpose due to the volume of lies that were told to steer society in a certain direction decades ago, and here we are now. Just google the term slide in intelligencce terms. As far as not believing the guy offed himself, I thought it odd too at first. I think he was murder too, at least my intial thoughts were. It is possible he was depressed and all. So many people killed and made to look like suicide you can hardly tell anymore. Regardless might be best to wait and see what other details are proven to be true first. You want a dead celeb that reeks of foul play that was ruled suicide, look into David Caradine who Auto erotic affixiated himself in a place where he could easily of stood up and not died... just saying his feet could touch the floor...how could you hang yourself... As far as Robin Williams goes, I do not know any of the details, just seemed odd because the man was in comedy and he did make jokes sometimes that most people did not get, but it would piss those who are in power off because he said things that are "frowned" upon in media.

Brian Fieldhouse I can have my own option and not be told to "shut the fuck up" so if you don't like my options please delete me off your friends list.

Roger Ugarte right man, to each his own. Suppose to be a free country...

Andy Hermann My dad and I were just saying it's probably cuz we are arming or funding Isis or Hamas.....or both. Nothing to see here, look over here a celebrity died.

Politicizing the United Negro College Fund

Saunders and One of the Fucking Koch brothers

Life must be tough for Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Saunders is African-American, as are many members of AFSCME, so his support of such an important institution as the United Negro College Fund is entirely relevant and not "charity" but solidarity, exactly what labor unions do. Charles Koch and his brother however, are not. Recently, the Koch clowns splattered $25 million all over the UNCF, triangulating an abandonment of the charity by AFSCME. In the endless politicization of public life, this is a win for Koch and a loss for the labor movement, AFSCME in particular, working people in general, democracy, and America as we know it.

While Koch-connected contributions to the UNCF are charity in a strict sense, these descendants of a founding member of the storied opponent of civil rights for African Americans and viciously right-wing John Birch society are not known as good-hearted philanthropists. The Koch's have a lot of money and a great deal of their spending goes strictly toward enhancing their ability to make more money. But in the "I have a deadline to meet" and "both sides of any story are equally bad/good" 24 hour media environment, the Koch chump change buying allegiance from desperate young African-Americans is a wonderful change of heart. Not only have Koch and Koch finally come around to the idea that black people are people too, the mainstream media will allege, but the nation's largest public sector union showed how petty and superficial they are in abandoning these needy students What is the real story behind the Koch brothers giving $25 million to allow underprivileged black kids to go to college?

If Charles and David have ever done a decent thing with all of their wealth, I have not heard of it. So plain altruism is probably not the answer here. Here is, I believe, a clue from UNCF's own press release. "The overarching goal of the UNCF/Koch Scholars Program is aimed at broadening educational opportunities so that aspiring African American students can better understand how entrepreneurship, economics, and innovation contribute to well-being for individuals, communities, and society." Similar to corporatespeak, charities use language designed to manipulate definitions to death and make words basically meaningless but lovely-sounding. Given the Koch's history of cynical self-serving behavior that corrupts anything they touch, undermining and rotting the republic's institutions in their wake, it is safe to interpret meanings to those words for their sincere intent.

In a word, this money is going to go toward reorienting any kind of solidarity in what UNCF calls "the 37 UNCF-member Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)" from the African-American community to the corporate world and it's values. It may be subtle and over a long time-frame, but the faculty, operating procedures and policies of HBCUs will gradually align more compatibly with the "devour everything for short-term profit and establish absolute power over society" ethos of the business community. Turning what has been a somewhat reliable source of Progressive power in the black middle-class into just another weapon against working people, democracy, economic security and opportunity, etc.

The side benefit of throwing this chump change at the UNCF is the wedge it drives with AFSCME by putting the sincere but less significant contributions to higher education for African-Americans by labor on par with what is essentially the evil empire of Koch. Oh my how mustaches must have twirled when this scam was thought up. UNCF is not ACORN, a group working to empower the disenfranchised to organize and help themselves claw toward decent living conditions, and therefore public enemy number one to the right wing. Therefore, UNCF cannot simply be destroyed; it must be co-opted to serve the interests of power.

Just another cynical calculation and power play by two of the main drivers of American decline.

Even Mythical Sea-Monsters do not like Spam.



 

I have been spending a little bit of time blogging at our local gaming store, yes The Kraken plays Magic: The Gathering, and have come to appreciate the spam guards that Blogger.com provides. I used to scratch my head at some of the weird referral URLs on the GH's stats page. It is only with a little comparison that I can now take my hat off to Google for all the work they do keeping spammers at bay.

I do not claim to be any kind of computer expert, or even especially proficient with things digital but dang. The difference between a DIY Word Press site and a little page within the Google umbrella is very stark. I wrote a few entries about MTG, theory and memories of the game in its early days, and not a day goes by that I don't get a notification for some comment that needs moderation. EVERY DAMN ONE is some spam bot with a canned, poorly written compliment and enticement to "optimize my SEO performance" or some other crap.

Computers are amazing machines, I can state that without qualification. But why does every good idea get perverted into a money-sucking scheme? I know Americans generally are not super smart, and everyone is looking for an angle to get rich or just get something for less than the price. That cannot be helped really, our society has only one value... dollar signs. Spam must be cost effective at finding suckers and bilking them, otherwise the scumbags running these schemes would try something that did separate morons from their money more efficiently.

Anyway, I just found a bunch of referrals from a site called "cure diabetes" or something. Yeah, obviously that one is a joke. But then I saw a second one called "Halloween Witch" and thought maybe there could be a legitimate link there as I have written about my favorite holiday and some related topics like The Misfits. Alas, no. The diabetes site and Halloween Witch are two sides of the same scam. Bummer.

These are just some observations without much of a larger point. If I had one I guess it would be that writers like me who are not computer experts should appreciate that there is a place like blogger where we can express opinions, or just share what is on our minds without having to navigate the digital jungle.

Not shown: Me [The Kraken] reaching up from the depths to sink the Viking ship and its spam-loving crew in the next scene.